Sevish at EUROMicroFest 2017

EUROMicroFest are delighted to welcome Sean Archibald (AKA SEVISH) to EUROMicroFest 2017. He will present a talk explaining how he discovered microtonality and developed a unique genre influenced by 20th century electronica. Then he will talk about the software that allows him make this music, and some of the difficulties that it has been necessary to overcome. He will talk briefly about the split-notes label which focuses on microtonal music in “popular” forms. He will be talking a bit, but playing a lot of examples, some with animations.

Since his album Golden Hour, Sevish’s technique has included a dark art known as microtonality/xenharmonics. For short, we can call this xen. The xen aesthetic tries to achieve new musical ideas by making things more (or less) in-tune than normal music. This is done by tuning instruments to some tonal system far different to the 12-tone system we hear daily.

Sevish’s influences are varied. 90’s rave and drum’n’bass. Mid-20th Century electronic music like Wendy Carlos and Raymond Scott. Smartypants dance music like μ-ziq, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and all them lot. Gamelan. Minimalism and extremely repetitive music. And also music which has no repetition at all. Field recordings and all sounds in their entirety. Ambient and drone music. Video game soundtracks—with a soft spot for Sega Genesis FM sounds. Funk. 80’s club music. Modern day xenharmonic music such as Jacky Ligon, Brendan Byrnes, City of the Asleep, Elaine Walker and many others. Jazz. Ancient music. The traditional music of various peoples and other earthlings. Glitches. Breakcore and other -cores. Prog, space, or psychedelic anything. Hip hop and beats.